


Hakuoki

by oninofukuchou (OrderOfRevan)



Category: Hakuouki
Genre: Altered Chizuru, Artistic Liberties, Canon-Typical Violence, F/M, Historical References, Novelization, Reinterpretation of canon
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-08-07
Updated: 2018-08-07
Packaged: 2019-06-23 11:04:54
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,702
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15604911
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/OrderOfRevan/pseuds/oninofukuchou
Summary: Yukimura Chizuru finds herself in the care of the Shinsengumi, men who can only be considered an intersection between street thugs and samurai.Soon she begins to discover that neither they, or even she herself, are what they seem and that history has a way of betraying some of its greatest heroes. After all history is written by the victors, which is why Demons are monsters and the men who have become her friends against all odds have been cast in the role of the villain.And above all else, one man who took desperate measures to fight for that which he most believed in has lost himself in his own myth.Perhaps it is her duty to remember the truth, in the end, or no one else will.





	Hakuoki

_ Snowfall, fleeting white, _

_ Moonlit flakes drift like petals  _

_ Gone in an instant _

 

**Kyoto - January, 1864**

 

She refused to believe coming here had been a mistake. 

Even with her heart pumping blood in her ears, the sound of drawn steel still ringing in her ears reverberating through her skull, she couldn’t just yield and back down like this. There was no way she could let herself turn up as a corpse in a Kyoto alleyway, not having worked so hard to get here, not when she had so much left to live for. 

With a grunt, she knocked over a few crates before ducking into an alleyway. 

Behind her she could still hear the sound of footsteps, though they faltered for a moment, leaving her frantic eyes enough time to spot a pile of unused plywood propped against one of the walls. Desperately, she lunged forward, skidding into place underneath them and hugging the wall as she listened to the ronin swear as the righted themselves. She’d been an idiot -- an absolute idiot -- thinking that she could just waltz around the streets at night, even with a sword, and now she might pay for it dearly. 

There was no way she could give up her blade, and no way she could take all three of them on at once, no matter how much training she’d thought she had. 

“Where did that fucking brat go?” she heard one of the men growl under his breath, pressing her hand to her mouth to muffle her breathing and trying not to think about all the horrible things they would do to her if they found her. “I swear, I’m going to cut his head off with his own sword.” 

“Just tear the damn place apar--” another, more distant voice began to say, suddenly cut off by a wet, sharp sound and then a heavy thud. 

A body against the earth. 

Through the night, a sound like some sort of wailing wounded animal began to repeat again and again, high and keening. It was punctuated by the sick sound of a blade stabbing again and again into flesh and joined by the sudden horrified screams of the other two ronin as the shadows across the wall distorted and flickered in the torchlight. 

“N-no! Get back! Get the fuck back!” One of them shouted, stumbling backwards into her line of sight, swinging wildly as a shape lunged towards him, its bright blue coat highly visible even in the dimness of the sunset alleyway. 

Memories flashed to the forefront of her mind, rumors of men in blue coats bathing the streets of Kyoto in the blood of Loyalist ronin, men with sword arms more destructive than the guns on Western blackships. Men, if the stories were true, who were lead by a demon with dark and penetrating eyes that demanded the lives of his subordinates for even the slightest infraction. 

Watching as the shape leapt on the ronin and drove its sword again and again into the man’s convulsing body until his chest was nothing more than a meaty, red pulp, it was easy to imagine why they’d earned such a horrid reputation. 

Tears stung her eyes, her stomach roiling, but try as she might she couldn’t look away from the scene before her. The keening noise continued and she realized that it was the sound of the men in blue laughing, even as the remaining ronin flew through the air and hit the wall next to her so hard she could hear his bones crack on impact. 

She flinched, trying to muffle the sounds of her own shuddering breath, willing herself anywhere but here. 

There was still too much to do!

She couldn’t…. 

Couldn’t be ripped to shreds like this! 

Biting down on her lip she tried to choke back her whimpers, listening as the laughter built to a maniacal chant of “blood, blood, blood!” They were so close now, so close that she could see the white shimmer of their hair in the torchlight, that she could see the horrible look of insanity in the depths of eyes that seemed to glow red in the darkness. 

Above them the last rays of the sun began to fade and the world fell into darkness, the men in the blue coats content to do as they wished to the corpses, their clothing soaked in blood and gore. A chill wind blew through the alleyway, bringing with it the scent of unfallen snow and causing her to shiver, though she was afraid that the noise would give her away. 

All she could do, all she could possibly hope to do, was to wait out the gruesome scene in front of her and pray that the monsters hiding in the darkness would go away. 

But if she died, she could only imagine that it was karmic retribution for her own carelessness. 

She should have been more aware of her surroundings and taken care to remember how dangerous the streets of Kyoto were after the shops closed and the world began to fall into darkness. People were murdered constantly in Capital, or so said all the stories, though she doubted it was usually by men with ghoulish smiles that split their faces into two and made them look like demons. 

Whatever these things were, it was clear they weren’t human. 

Slowly, she tried to shift farther into the shadow, to hide herself more completely in the shadow of the stacked boards. Her movements were slow and careful as she attempted to move with as little as noise as possible, the horrible noises she heard making her shudder with the urgency of hiding as well as she could. 

But she overestimated the stability of the boards. 

Her foot struck one of them, setting it swaying and then toppling over, bringing several others with. They clanked loudly against one another as they crashed to the ground, leaving her completely exposed in the pale moonlight now peeking through the winter clouds and bathing the sea of blood before her in unnatural light. 

Three pairs of burning red eyes focused on her, grins widening to inhuman lengths as they practically crawled towards her, swaying drunkenly as they walked. Her hands fumbled for the kodachi at her hip but she knew it would be no use, that she couldn’t defend herself against these monsters.

Still, she refused to go down without a fight, struggling to her feet and ignoring the tears stinging her eyes. Gulping, she grasped the hilt of her small blade with shaking hands and widened her stance, biting her lip hard enough to draw blood as she choked back desperate sobs of despair. 

This was all she could do. 

She had to take every chance she could to survive, no matter how stupid or foolish.

After all, Father was -- 

The sound of a sword being drawn rang through the air, metal flashing in the darkness as the tip of a blade plunged through the chest of the closest monster, spray drenching her in blood. She could smell and taste nothing but that dark, coppery scent, her body sticky with it as the blade darted away cutting the other two demons down before she’d ever had time to process what was happening. 

The sky above her began to weep snowflakes, melting as they touched the still-warm blood splattered against the dirt. 

“Really, Hajime-kun?” said a dissonantly cheerful voice as another blue-clad shadow stepped from an adjoining alleyway. “You chose tonight of all nights to work quickly? You could have at least left me  _ one _ …” 

“I do not take pleasure in bloodshed,” replied another voice, quiet and deep, drawing her attention to the shape of a man standing where the monsters had been but moments before, “unlike you, Souji.” 

Muscles locked in place, she tried to tell herself to move, to run, to do anything at all or she would be the next corpse in this alleyway, but her body refused to obey her. All she could do was whimper, the shock of what had just happened finally catching up to her as she stared upon the horrific scene, looking up just in time to meet two pairs of nearly luminous eyes staring at her. 

There was the sound of shuffling as the two men moved towards her, stepping from the shadows into the moonlight to reveal stunningly youthful faces. They were both beautiful, somehow, like samurai from an old heroic account from ages past, only they were surrounded by grim corpses, some mutilated beyond recognition. 

It was more of a nightmare than a dream. 

“See?” said the taller of the two, his bottom lip jutting out into a pout as he gestured to her wildly. “If you had waited just a bit longer, they’d have dealt with our little loose end here for us!” 

Green eyes flashed as his lips pulled back into a smile only a little less savage than that of the monsters, his brown hair rustled by the breeze. 

“Now we’ll just have to do it ourselves, I suppose,” he continued on in a cheerful voice, leaving her stomach heavy with the leaden realization that she’d had a better chance of surviving the monsters. 

Whatever fate she’d walked into, these grim men were no less terrifying for their lucidity. 

“That is not our call to make,” the other replied in his calm way, flicking blood from his blade with the snap of his wrist before returning his sword to its place at his right side. “You know this.”

His impassive blue eyes slid towards her, hidden in part by a mop of long, dark hair that made his pale face look all the more grim. She sensed no hostility from him, a fair contrast to the almost gleefully vibrating man beside him, but in a way that was even more terrifying. 

Terrifying enough that her frozen muscles finally melted and she was able to start to slowly back away… 

Right into the point of a drawn blade. 

“Luck’s not on your side tonight, kid,” a deep voice rumbled, rough and unrefined, so quiet that she nearly didn’t hear it. 

With a sharp intake of breath, she spun and stepped away, the blade following her so that it was still pressed against her collarbone. The threat was clear, even if it didn’t hurt, and at any moment she knew she could die if he willed it, the length of steel as unflinching and as cold as the stare that rooted her in place once more. 

All she could do was look up helplessly, caught in place by the sight of him, a man so beautiful and terrifying that he might have been a reflection of death itself. Long, inky hair was stirred by the cold wind, catching and holding the light of the moon that cast heavy shadows on the sharp lines of his face. His breath puffed into the air, the flurries of snowflakes falling around him like sakura petals suspended in the moonbeams only serving to emphasize the deadly elegance and poise with which he held himself. 

But most of all it was his eyes that held her. 

They weren’t gleeful or calm, simply… certain. 

Pools of violet as deep and as vibrant as the finest dyes, filled with nothing short of absolute conviction. Yet in their depths something flickered, something not wholly unkind, the spark of an emotion that stirred in her the first hope she’d felt all night. 

A something that might be mercy. 

“If you run,” he said, “I’ll kill you.” 

Slowly, the tension drained from her shoulders and she dropped her gaze, staring at her woven sandals and swallowing thickly. There was the sound of a blade being sheathed the feeling of his eyes upon her back lifting as he turned to face his companions, though he didn’t stray from her side. 

“They saw the whole thing,” the cheerfully relentless man said, “and the coats are kind of a dead giveaway.”

“Shut up,” came the curt response, “are we killing civilians now? Is that what we’re doing? For fuck’s sake, Souji.” 

“The vice-commander is correct,” said the quiet man. “I believe it is unwise to act until we receive a full report of tonight’s events.” 

She looked up, watching the exchange. 

The beautiful man, the one referred to as “vice-commander”, was staring the taller of his two subordinates down, venom in his gaze. Still, the green-eyed man only stared back, still grinning, far too casual for someone staining the bottom of his sandals with blood. 

“Well, you are the boss,” he said with a lazy shrug, “though…” 

His eyes slid towards her, grin widening to something toothy, giving her a breathless chuckle before he spoke. “Not very polite, are you, kid? Thought you’d be more grateful here when Hajime-kun went through all that trouble to save your life.” 

A cold wind blew through the alleyway, chilling her to the core; still, she straightened her back and bowed. 

She wasn’t sure why, not entirely, but if her life was in their hands… 

It couldn’t hurt to be polite. 

“Y-you’re correct,” she managed, her voice cracking, though she cleared it and pushed on, trying as hard as she could to sound more like a man. “I… I thank you for your assistance.”

The vice-commander and the quiet man spent a moment staring at her in mute shock while the smiling one burst into laughter, practically doubling over with it. He placed his hand over his eyes, the other clutching his stomach as he leaned forward and curled in on himself, his shoulders shaking as he snorted and chortled, the sound echoing down the alleyway.

In the dark and the cold, with blood on her clothes and in her hair and corpses at her feet, it sounded all too much like the coughing she’d often heard in her father’s clinic. 

The kind of coughing that took people’s lives and consumed their very bodies. 

“That’s enough,” the vice-commander barked. “We don’t have any more time to waste here. Take their blues and let’s move out. I’ll have the Watch deal with the rest.” 

The quiet one nodded, swiftly stepping towards the corpses of the men he’d killed and removing their bloodstained jackets, turning to her briefly as he pulled away. For a moment he simply stared at her, full lips pursed together in contemplation, before he spoke in an unnervingly calm voice, “I would prepare for the worst, were I you.”    
And with those disquieting words, the laughing man’s hand grasped her wrist too tightly and tugged her off into the Kyoto night. 

###

It took her a disoriented moment to realize where she was and why her entire body ached, swallowing hard around the gag in her mouth. Her throat was dry and scratchy, and her clothing smelled like old blood and sweat, every muscle either aching or completely numb from the constricting bindings that kept her hands locked behind her back. 

At least, she thought, she was lying on a futon and not on the floor.

After the night she’d had, that would have been especially cruel. 

Thankfully, she was alone right now, leaving her to try to struggle to her knees. 

Rolling onto her stomach, she slowly began to push herself up using her left shoulder, gaining balance and quickly righting herself completely finally able to properly look at her surroundings. It was a relatively plain room, of course, sunlight filtering through the doors and bathing the tatami in softly muffled morning light. There was a writing desk pressed against the wall with a light standing next to it, though it wasn’t lit, and the doors to the small closet that usually held the bedding were tight shut. There was nothing else here, even her ancestral blade - the one Father told her to keep by her side at all costs - had been taken from her… 

But that wasn’t really surprising, given the circumstances. 

She watched as a shadow moved outside of the door, feet tapping lightly against wooden boards, before the door itself was gently slid open. The man on the other side was older than the three she’d seen last night, someone who seemed much more suited to this sort of position, his head shaved in a perfect traditional top-knot, his dark eyes filled with a gentle and searching sort of kindness. 

It wasn’t exactly what she was expecting, not with the horrible whispers she’d heard as she made the two week journey across the countryside, but she was grateful for it nonetheless. 

Slowly, he crossed the floor towards her, untying the gag from her mouth and loosening her bonds. Immediately, she reached out to rub her raw wrists, the red rope marks burned into her skin and unlikely to leave any time soon, leaving her looking even more a mess than she already felt. 

“I apologize for how roughly Souji-kun tied the ropes,” he said quietly. “You’re such a young one, I doubt you’d be any threat to the swordsmen here, but the lad can be quite paranoid.” 

“Souji-san is…” she trailed off, glad her voice was rough from disuse, helping her sell her disguise a bit better. “He’s one of the men who saved me last night, isn’t he?” 

“Yes,” the man said, his voice ever kind. “I would serve you tea, but command wishes to see you immediately. I hate to do this to you, but I must bind your arms again,” he said, gently taking her wrists in hand. 

Unable to stop herself from wincing at the touch, she quickly looked away, staring out the door behind him to find that the little room overlooked a small garden of some sort. The sky was blue and the breeze was brisk, but it didn’t seem that any of the snow from the night before had managed to stick, though it still left her missing the milder Edo weather. 

“Where…” she started, her eyes darting back towards the man, who paused in tying his knot as she spoke. “Where am I? And who are you?” 

“Ah, my apologies,” the man said as he resumed his task, “my name is Inoue Genzaburo and you’re in Mibu Village at the headquarters of the Shinsengumi.” 

The Shinsengumi?

Just like that, the reality she’d been denying came crashing down on her, stories about the demon that commanded their ranks, reminded all too clearly of the inhuman monsters that had been wearing their colors the night before. She’d kept telling herself that such things couldn’t possibly be true, that demons were things that operated in shadows and never showed their faces to mortals for fear of the modern world encroaching on them - if they still existed at all - but what she’d witnessed last night… 

There was no other explanation. 

“You look quite worried,” the man said, standing up and then reaching down to help pull her to her feet. “You shouldn’t be so concerned. I’ve known most of the young men in command for many years, and I promise you that they’re all very honorable. If nothing else, they’ll give you a fighting chance.” 

His words brought to mind a pair of violet eyes, and to her great surprise she was almost compelled to believe him in spite of everything she’d heard about the Shinsengumi. 

“Thank you,” she muttered, bowing her head, “but… I was told to expect the worst.” 

She heard Inoue-san sigh heavily as he grasped her shoulders, looking into her face before he smiled a bit sadly and pulled away. “Don’t take them so seriously, my young friend,” he said in a soft voice. “They can be dramatic from time to time in the way that all young men around their age can be, not yet worn down enough by the world and her ways. There’s no reason to take that to heart when I know full well that they’re all perfectly capable of being reasonable.” 

Though she couldn't help but wonder if he was just making excuses she said nothing more, letting him lead her outside and across the wooden walkway. Together they walked in silence for awhile before he opened the door to a hallway that lead into a common room, the two of them padding on silent feet across the floor, the hallway opening up and revealing to her those in command of the Shinsengumi. 

The first thing she noticed was how young they all were, even with their strangely bright and penetrating eyes, Inoue-san easily the eldest among them as he guided her to the ground to kneel before her judge. Somehow, they looked ill-suited for their important positions as the proclaimed protectors of Kyoto, underprepared and wet behind the ears, more like particularly well-dressed thugs than a group of well-trained ronin.  

The second thing she noticed was how they were staring at her, like she was a threat to be sized up, all save for the man named Okita, who simply grinned at her, and the man with violet eyes. His face was impassive, his expression filled with the same absolute resolve as earlier, and she had the impression that he would be the one holding the blade over her neck himself if they decided to kill her. 

The thought wasn’t a comforting one. 

“So this is the kid that you found in the alleyway, Hijikata-san?” the youngest of the group asked, his brilliant green eyes sizing her up like she was a potential rival; and small wonder, since he barely looked any older than she did. “He doesn’t look like much. Kind of a scrawny little kid, if you ask me.”

“Like you have any right to call him scrawny,” said the tall, broad man to his immediate right, his words light and cheerful even as his blue eyes stripped her to her core. “Look at you, Heisuke-kun, hardly any meat on your bones!” 

“Just because I’m not old like you and Sano-san--” the young man, Heisuke, practically shouted, only to be cut off by another man. 

His red hair hung loosely in a pair of yellow eyes, and his gaze was less hostile than the others but still wary, a composed smile spread across his lips. “Come on now, Heisuke-kun… Shinpachi might be old, but I’m certainly not.”

“Oi,” barked a voice that she recognized, that of the man with the violet eyes. “Stop playing your games, you damn twits. Now’s not the time for this shit!” 

“Though I’d phrase it much more elegantly,” a quiet man in what looked like a pair of thick spectacles said politely, “I must agree with Hijikata-kun. Please, dear guest, forgive our rudeness. I’m afraid this is quite the rowdy bunch.” 

“O-oh,” she managed, remembering by some miracle to deepen her voice in spite of her nerves. “It’s quite fine. I understand this situation is… Um… Odd.” 

The man with the spectacles flashed her a brilliant smile.

“Indeed it is,” he agreed, turning his attention back towards the one called Hijikata. 

“Saito, give a report on last night’s events for Kondo-san and Sanan-san,” Hijikata said, waving his hand towards the dark haired man with the unnervingly calm expression who had given her last night’s grim warning. 

“Of course, vice-commander,” said Saito-san with a bow of his head. “Last night, Souji, the vice-commander and myself encountered rogue members of the Corps assaulting a group of ronin. They were easily dispatched, but upon examining the scene a witness was discovered. The vice-commander felt it wise to bring the child here for questioning rather than perform an execution on the spot as murdering civilians is in violation of our mandate.”  

“That’s our Toshi,” said a man whose voice was warmer than the rest, drawing her attention to a tall man with broad features who was otherwise very unassuming looking. “We can always trust in him to uphold the Shinsengumi’s mandate!” 

Hijikata, whom he called Toshi, looked somewhat mortified at the comment and looked away from him. “Kondo-san,” he grumbled, “is this really the best way to be acting during an interrogation?” 

It was much gentler than the way he’d treated the men who’d exchanged banter earlier, and she found herself wondering at the history between the two of them. 

“So what did you see, exactly?” Okita-san asked, looking at her with a wide grin on his face. “I warn you -- If you give an answer I don’t like, I’ll kill you.” 

In spite of his cheerful tone, she absolutely believed him. 

Bowing her head, she took a steadying breath and fixed her eyes on Hijikata-san, swallowing as she began to speak. “I… I was being chased by the ronin your men killed,” she said, trying to maintain her confidence in the face of these terrifying men. “I saw them murder the men and… And I saw that they had red eyes, but I don’t… I don’t know what happened! I swear! I just… I just know that you saved me!” 

“Doesn’t sound like like the kid knows much,” the tall, “old” man muttered. “I mean, how old can he really be?” 

“While is youth is regrettable,” the man with the glasses began, “I still believe he knows too much. What do you think, Hijikata-kun?” 

“I think that this requires more thought,” Hijikata-san said, “and that we need to discuss this in more detail. Take the kid back to the room. When we need ‘em again, I’ll call.” 

“Vice-commander,” the one called Saito-san said, bowing before he stood, helping to lift her to her feet. 

He said nothing to her as he lead her back down the path Inoue-sand had taken her not that long before. Somehow, it felt like she’d been here for days instead of hours, caught in the web of the Shinsengumi, and that the more she struggled the more trapped she became. There was also no comfort in the realization that vice-commander Hijikata, with his absolute control over the other men, was likely the demon from the stories. 

It was his web she was somehow stuck in and whether or not she managed to escape was completely up to his mercy. 

Saito deposited her in her room, her wrists still bound, leaving her with nothing to do but further contemplate her situation. Outside, the sun had started to rise higher in the sky, leaving her hungry, exhausted, and too emotionally drained to cry. All she could do for awhile was sit there on the ground thinking about how they would kill her before she ever had the chance to find Father. 

It had been six long months. 

Six months since she had seen his face, and one month since he’d sent a letter. She had no idea what had happened to him, only that he’d come here on orders from the bakufu as part of his work duty. 

Father had always gone away for long periods, after all he was a Doctor of Western Medicine, so she’d grown used to it. Long days and weeks she’d spent alone growing up so she was perfectly capable of holding down the homestead without him, but… 

For him to go this long without contact when he was such a dutiful father… 

The thought was unspeakable and she was certain something horrible must have happened to him. 

It was the entire reason she was here, dressed as a boy, when she should have been back minding the clinic in Edo. There were people there to take care of her, to check up on her, neighbors and friends of her father’s, though if she couldn’t even find his one friend here in Kyoto… 

She didn’t know how she had ever expected to find him in the first place. 

After all, she had only just turned seventeen. 

Sucking in a breath, she resolved not to give up, struggling to her feet as she inched slowly across the tatami. Glad that they’d kept her hands bound in front of her, she thanked the spirits for her good fortune and then began the careful, slow work of opening the door. 

She knew that she had to be careful, that she couldn’t afford to be reckless right now, but honestly if she was going to die anyway … It was better to die fighting, wasn’t it? 

That way, when she finally did reunite with Father one day in the afterlife, at least she’d be able to look him proudly in the eye and say that she’d tried everything she could to get to him.

Grunting quietly, she finally managed to work the door open, though new sooner had she attempted to take her first steps outside than she found herself nose to chest with a deep purple kimono. Within moments she found herself dangling from the ground, suspended seemingly effortlessly in the air and nearly nose to nose with the now familiar face of the Demon Vice-Commander of the Shinsengumi. 

“Eh? Couldn’t even listen to orders,” a nearby voice practically purred. “I guess we really will have to kill you now.” 

“I thought I told you that if you ran I’d spill your guts onto the ground?” the man holding her growled, his dark eyes narrowed into dangerous slits. 

She squeezed her eyes shut and bit her bottom lip hard enough to hurt before glaring up at him. “I had to try!” she shouted. “I have something that I have to do and I can’t die until I do it!”

Surprise flashed across his face followed by an expression that could only be called a smile by the loosest definitions, lopsided and with far too many teeth. “Okay, kid,” he said quietly, “try me. What’s so important that a kid like you would risk your life for it?” 

“I…” she took a breath, realizing that she only had this single chance to convince him, but somehow relieved because it was a chance she wasn’t expecting to have. “I’m looking for my father!”

“Your father?” he asked, voice hard. 

“My father is a doctor of Western medicine,” she began, watching his eyes widen imperceptibly. “His name is Yukimura Kodo and he’s be been missing for a month.” 

“Yukimura-san is this scrawny kid’s old man?” Okita asked from the Demon’s side. “Well, what do you know!” He began to laugh, the noise echoing across the small garden. “Looks like a coincidence might have saved your life!” 

“That remains to be seen,” the other man said as he set her back on the ground, “but for now, it’s gained you another chance to explain yourself.”

He turned his gaze towards Okita, the two of them exchanging a long, knowing look. It was the sort of look that only two people who had known one another for a very long time could share, and a stark reminder of just how much of an outsider she truly was. 

It was their world, a world of madness, one she had the sick feeling she was about to descend into… Whether she liked it or not. 

“Get the kid a new change of clothes let ‘em clean off at the well,” Hijikata Toshizo ordered with a wave of his hand, “we’ll meet back in the common room in an hour.” 

Okita only smiled the kind of smile that sent a chill down her spine. 

###

“Back again, huh?” the youngest member of the group asked when she was pushed into the room by a still grinning Okita.

She reached up and rubbed her arm where his fingers had dug into it, casting a glare over her shoulder. 

“New information’s come to light,” Hijikata said coolly. “Turns out, this girl is Yukimura Kodo-san’s daughter.” 

His words sent ripples of shock across the room, though she didn’t think anyone was more surprised than she herself was. Not only had she started to wear hakama, but she’d even cut her hair before she’d left, making sure it wasn’t nearly as neat or feminine as it had been in Edo. With the sword on her hip, she was almost certain everyone would mistake her for a young man instead of a young woman, but… 

But when she looked into those violet eyes, she realized that fooling him was probably an impossible task. 

“Girl?!” the man with the broad, friendly face exclaimed, his dark and wild brow furrowing over his kind eyes. “Toshi… You don’t mean to tell me…” 

“Eh? You didn’t know, Kondo-san?” Okita asked, effortlessly stepping up to her side and reaching out to pat her cheek condescendingly, smiling the entire time. “But she’s just so cute!” 

“We… We were considering executing a girl?!” Kondo went on, crossing his arms over his chest and casting Hijikata a long, concerned look. 

“She was just in the wrong place at the wrong time,” he replied firmly, “but her gender doesn’t mean shit. If we have to kill her, we have to kill her.” 

The youngest of their number approached her other side, looking her over. He leaned uncomfortably close, so close she could see how dry his lips were and feel the humidity of his breath against her skin. 

“I guess when you know she’s a girl, she really doesn’t look much like a boy, does she?” he asked, casting a look over his shoulder. “What do you think, Shin?” 

“I don’t think there’s any way to know for sure she’s a girl,” the tall, broad man with the dark hair and blue eyes said. “Even if she claims to be one…”

“Well,” the red-haired man next to him said with a small chuckle, “we could always strip her down to make sure?” 

She felt her face grow bright red and she quickly looked down at her no longer bound hands, her ears burning with embarrassment. It wasn’t said seriously, that much she could tell, but the idea alone was still mortifying to her. 

Even being here was enough to overwhelm her to the point that she was fighting back tears. 

How could she possibly hope to cope with anything more?

“Absolutely not!” the man named Kondo barked, pounding his fist against the tatami mat. “We’ve already been treating her far too roughly!” 

“Oh for the love of --” Hijikata grumbled, his voice low, his tone suggesting that these sorts of antics weren’t uncommon. “No one is stripping anyone, got it? We’re here to listen to her side of the story! How the hell did you all get caught up on the exact wrong detail?” 

“I believe you said she was Yukimura-san’s daughter?” Sanan asked quietly, his eyes shifting towards her, dark and penetrating.

The kind of clever eyes that instinct screamed at her to be wary of. 

“Y-yes,” she managed, bowing before them. “I’m Yukimura Chizuru, and my father is a Western-trained Doctor named Yukimura Kodo. I… I came to Kyoto to look for him, as I haven’t had correspondence from him in a month.” 

From across Kondo’s broad shoulders, Hijikata and Sanan exchanged a look. 

“The timeline matches,” Hijikata said, giving half a shrug. 

Pressing her lips together, she took a step forward, his eyes immediately snapping towards her, dark brows arching towards his hairline. He didn’t speak, but she could hear the unspoken question lingering in the air between them -- 

_ What the hell do you want?  _

“How do you know my father?” she asked, her questions coming out in a rush. “Do you know where he is? What’s happened to him?” 

Her words came out as more accusatory than she wanted and flinched away from the sharp eyes of the vice-commander. Still, he sighed and leaned forward ever so slightly, bracing his hands on either side of him, and answered her. 

“Your father has a history with our organization as a fellow supporter of the bakufu,” he explained. “A month ago there was a fire at the clinic he was working from, but no signs of a body. We’ve been actively searching for him ever since.” 

This time she couldn’t prevent the tears from welling in her eyes, quickly looking away. These weren’t the kind of men she should cry or show weakness in front of, but here she was, feeling absolutely pathetic. 

She’d come all the way from Edo, but to find out that her father might be dead was… 

“I… I don’t have anyone else,” she said, trying to swallow past the lump in her throat and stop her eyes from stinging. “W-what am I going to do?” 

In spite of everything she’d heard about the men, some of their stares still felt sympathetic. 

“If I might, Hijikata-kun?” Sanan asked, continuing without receiving permission. “The eyes of such a loving daughter may be beneficial to seeing through any disguise Yukimura-san may be using to protect himself.”

“She was bold enough to travel here all the way from…” Kondo began, stroking his chin thoughtfully. “Where is it you’re from?”

“Edo,” she said, watching them all exchange glances. 

“Ah! Another native of Edo!” Kondo continued, laughing. “Well, you’ll fit right in here, then. It’s not as if we can send you off into the custody of the Aizu, as much as I don’t like the idea of subjecting you to living with a bunch of warriors as rough as ourselves.” 

“She knows far too many of our secrets,” Sanan agreed with a small nod. “Even if she doesn’t recognize what it was she saw, she could still compromise our organization should she fall into enemy hands. Unfortunately, I’m afraid we’re woefully unprepared to house a woman.” 

“We’ll make arrangements,” Hijikata said firmly. 

There was a pause and the energy in the room shifted, the men beginning to chatter amongst themselves. She heard snippets of conversation -- bits about how she’d ‘brighten up the place’, and about how ‘women were good to have around’, and she wondered if they were trying to make her feel better or if they really were just that starved of female attention. 

They all looked to be older than her, after all. 

“Should you need anything,” saida  quiet voice from nearby, “you need only ask.”

It was Saito, her head turning towards him as he spoke. 

Alls he could do was nod, noting the slight curve of his lips as he turned back towards the front of the room and his presumed commanding officers. 

“So what do we do with her?” Okita asked, still standing at her side. “We can’t just let her have free reign of the place and if we don’t give her a job the sliders will start to question it.” 

“We can make her someone’s attendant and hide her in plain sight,” Hijikata said in way of an answer. “You looking for someone, Kondo-san? Sanan-san?”

The two men looked surprised, though they had no time to answer before Okita was speaking again, his large hand clapping down upon her shoulder. “Oh? What’s this, Hijikata-san? Just trying to foist her off on someone else? As the one who made the suggestion, don’t you think you should take the responsibility?” 

Annoyance flashed across Hijikata’s fair face like lightning across the spring sky, but Kondo spoke before he could manage an objection.

“That sounds like a wonderful idea! Who else would take better care of her than Toshi?” 

“Yes, I agree,” said Sanan with a dazzling smile, “there is truly no better man for the job.” 

One by one, everyone began to filter out of the room, the situation dealt with leaving only the logistics to be dealt with… Something they seemed all too pleased to place firmly in Hijikata’s hands. It left the room feeling empty and very quiet, and Chizuru suddenly realized she felt very small indeed, especially with the way those violet eyes tried to pry her apart every time they gazed at her. 

“Bastards,” he muttered, finally pushing himself to his feet. “For now, just go back to your room. I’ll have food sent later. I’ve got too much shit to deal with right now to bother with the details and a trip to Osaka coming up in a few days.” 

He sighed and ran a hand over the top of his head, staring at the wall with an unfocused gaze.

Then, with one last glance over his shoulder, he spun on his heel and left the room, leaving her with no choice but to follow his orders.


End file.
